Those of you who have been following the blog for a long time know that we don't use water beads in our sensory play. This last week was the first time we had water beads on the blog - when we posted about our Giant Halloween Eyeballs Sensory Play. If you've ever wondered why we don't use the traditional manufactured water beads in our sensory play, it's mainly because we have a substitute that we like better. Our "mini water beads" are inexpensive, not chokable (they are small enough to not present a hazard), they take just a few minutes to set up, and they are totally edible. They are much smaller than manufactured water beads, so we call them mini water beads, but they behave incredibly similarly to the manufactured water beads. I love that they are such a safe and edible alternative - with both cats and a little one, it's nice to not have to worry about anyone accidentally ingesting something dangerous (I'm a worrier). :) Not to mention, our safe edible mini water beads are gorgeous, right?

To set them up, I soak them in whatever colored water I want the mini water beads to be. This step takes less than five minutes.

Then I dump them into whatever bin we're using and ooh and aah over the gorgeous colors. They look a little like tiny gems to me. They natural stick together a bit, so once we're ready to play, I add a small amount of water.

And then S dives in and mixes them up. For the record, this is one of my favorite photos ever. :)

As the colors mix and swirl, it's quite the show.

S usually plays with these, but we thought we'd set them up on the floor and let X have a go. This was several months ago - I think he's a little over a year old here. He loooovved them.

As you can see, they're very small. But they do have a very similar texture to manufactured water beads, as they are also made of a gel that holds water.

They're really soft and they like to stick together a bit, so they move as a wave when you swish them (I couldn't get any good action shots of that, so you'll just have to trust me on that one).

Now, as I mentioned, this was X's first experience with them. He naturally wanted to climb right in. Naturally.

And I'm glad he did because we discovered something we wouldn't have otherwise - our mini water beads stick to clothes. Like reallllllly stick. S generally just plays with her hands and arms - and we have no issues. But hoo boy do these beads stick to clothing. And towels. You can pick them off for sure, but it's a pain. So I would recommend either not letting your kiddos climb in or having them play sans clothing to save yourself a headache.

They even make pretty art! It's so fun to swirl and mix them.

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Now to teach you how to make your own! Again, let me clarify once more that they will stick to clothes and towels; please keep that in mind when deciding where and how to play with them.

Add the coloring to the water, if desired. Soak 1 Tablespoon of the basil seeds, stirring occasionally. Within about 5 minutes, they will have absorbed all the water. When you are ready to play with them, add a little extra water to your container to allow them to move a bit more fluidly (otherwise they tend to stick to each other and hands).

The Basil Seeds we used are even cheaper if you buy them at an Asian specialty food market. At our local Asian specialty food market a whole bag (which is SO many Tablespoons of seeds) was a little over a dollar. I learned about the properties of basil and chia seeds in graduate school (botany is COOL!). The gel that forms is a way for the seed to gather and store water as it sprouts. Clever of the seed, right? These seeds are also used in drinks (think along the lines of bubble tea) in other countries. In the US they are gaining popularity as a health/energy drink because they are high in nutrients.

Where do you find Basil Seeds:

The best place to find basil seeds is in an Asian or International Specialty Food Store: Our local Asian Specialty stores all carry bags for $1 and they are in the spices sectionHere is a listing on US Amazon

Allow the mixed seeds to sit overnight (or at least 8 hours) in the colored water in your refrigerator for best results.

There are so many fun ways to play with our safe and edible mini water beads! I'll be sharing several of them in the next week or two. Oh, and if you're looking for a larger edible version of water beads, check out Blog Me Mom's Edible "Water" Beads here!

All activities here are activities I feel are safe for my own children. As your child's parents/guardians, you will need to decide what you feel is safe for your family. I always encourage contacting your child's pediatrician for guidance if you are not sure about the safety/age appropriateness of an activity. All activities on this blog are intended to be performed with adult supervision. Appropriate and reasonable caution should be used when activities call for the use of materials that could potentially be harmful, such as scissors, or items that could present a choking risk (small items), or a drowning risk (water activities), and with introducing a new food/ingredient to a child (allergies). Observe caution and safety at all times. The author and blog disclaim liability for any damage, mishap, or injury that may occur from engaging in any of these activities on this blog.

We found these beads dangerous as my grandchildren got into them and put a couple in each ear...before my daughter had time to soak them. The ER could not flush them out. So they're headed into surgery today with an EMT

How fun! I would never have thought you could make your own. I have been leary of trying the regular water beads with my toddler who still puts things in her mouth. This would be a great alternative. Now, to find some basil seeds... :)

This is very creative! In what other types of appplications might this be useful? Could the colored basil/chia/flax seed gel be used in baking? What happened when the beads dried? How will the beads work on paper? And is there a preferred type of paper to use? Thanks in advance!

Thanks for the heads-up about the seeds selling out - we must have done that - hahaha! I just switched it to another similarly priced listing. And yes, the seeds soak up the colored water in that first step of the recipe. They form the gelatin around themselves as they soak. You can still see a small black center of the seeds if you look closely in my photos. :)

This is brilliant! Just one question: Do all basil seeds react this way? I noticed on the recipe it says "this basil seed" and it sends me to amazon to purchase "hairy basil seeds" Lol. I'm a "recipe girl" and must know details;) Thank in advance!

Hi Rachel! Any type of basil seed will work - I linked to hairy basil because that is the food grade type and if littles are going to be sampling, you wouldn't want to use planting grade seeds (does that make sense?). But all basil seeds will do this. :)

Aaahhh! Do you have the listing you bought them from? I want to make sure I'm not linking to it. :( And can you send me a photo of what it looks like at funathomewithkids@gmail.com? I might be able to figure out what's going on? So so so sorry - that is hugely frustrating!

Same problem here... I was so excited to try this and bought the seeds so that we could have a fun weekend with my daughter and cousins. It was an absolute fail. Nothing happened at all. Not worth the bother at all... I was very disappointed

I am wondering if you are all buying off the same link. I wish that someone would send it to me so I can remove it!!! Thousands and thousands of readers have successfully made these - if there is a bad listing for the seeds, I would love to remove it. It's SO frustrating when things don't work. But if no one emails me which link it is I have no idea which to remove. Please leave the bad link here or email it to me at funathomewithkids@gmail.com. If you can also send a picture of the seeds, I would love to see if I can figure out what's going on...

It's possible, but there was also a bad batch of seeds that went out. I know because I sent replacement seeds from my personal stash and they worked. I haven't heard of trouble in a month or so, so hopefully it's all resolved! PHEW!

I'm just curious, as I'm raising older gr-kids. What are "water beads" please, and where are they purchased? Do these water beads come in different sizes & are they also safe IF eaten? Thanks so much for your help and have a lovely day!... :)

Hi 4lala, they come in two sizes, jumbo (the size of a huge gumball) and small (a bit smaller than your average gumball). You can find them at craft stores or online, and no, they are harmful if ingested - they are made from polyacrylate - the stuff that swells with moisture in disposable diapers.

Those look amazing! The only concern would be that they are big enough to still present a choking hazard (as I understand it). But they make a great substitute to traditional water beads for kids old enough not to choke on them!

I looked at your Amazon link and people are commenting that the Dept of Agriculture is seizing them because those seeds aren't supposed to be allowed in the country. Any thoughts on alternatives?

"1st off it took over 30 days to arrive and when the nice Post Lady had me sign for it she have me a strange look as she handed me the package and turned to leave. Why? Because the USAD had confiscated them and left a little note inside the opened package saying it was unlawful to bring them into the country from Taiwan. Don't buy them!!"

Oh my gosh - thank you SO MUCH for letting me know! I just assumed that any listing on Amazon.com US would ship to the US - I had no idea that they would have a listing that isn't approved. Boo. I just switched out the link for another listing that has great reviews and seems to have no trouble with being imported. I hope that helps! My only other thought is to ask around at any Asian Specialty Markets, International Spice shops, or to search Google for another provider close to you. The basil seed is used in drinks traditionally, so it is usually with spices... I am so sorry it's caused so much trouble!!!! :/

I'm from Laos. For our new year in April, we throw water at each other, to wish them luck. Children like to soak chia seeds in color and mix them in the water we used to pour on people. This would drive them mad as the tiny bubble stick to clothes!

Seeing our post brings back my childhood memories. I hope your children will have a great memory playing with these too.

Oh my gosh - that is SO COOL! Thank you so much for sharing that story with us!!!! Yes, they do stick to clothes super well, hahahaa, I can see how that would drive people mad! Thank you so much for the great comment!

Hi,I love this idea and can't wait to try it! My only concern is how much they stick to clothes- I teach classes so I can't exactly as parents to strip their kids down to diapers, and picking off tons of sticky seeds seems like a hassle too. Has anyone found a way to make them less sticky, or at least come off clothing easier? Thanks!

I want to try this but my son is only 7 months old and has no teeth coming in yet. I don't intend to leave him unattended during play or anything, but I have no idea how he might react to these seeds either. I wouldn't know what to do if he grabbed a glob, stuck them in his mouth, and obstructed his airway with a bunch of them at once... Is 7 months too young? If I dilute with extra water would it make it physically impossible to pick up a heaping handful at once? He sits up well with support, so I guess it would be the same difference as your youngest X playing with them, but it's just my first kid and I don't know all the ins and outs of infants. I've read up on the seeds though- hardly any allergic reactions associated with them and only a few warnings of choking hazard, if several swollen seeds are lodged into the throat at once. Any further advice on age limitations? Maybe it would help me gain perspective if I knew what age X was when he played in the water soaked seeds? Thanks!

I'd absolutely recommend checking with your pediatrician! In the meantime, no, I haven't seen them clump together with the added water I recommend, and they are tiny and smooth, but if you are at all concerned, please do check (you can even check over the phone with most doctors). I hope that helps! :)

I guess it's probably no different than him eating rice cereal. Thank you so much for responding quickly with advice. I probably won't bother asking my pediatrician (she's overly conservative about most things I ask her about so I don't always follow her advice to the letter), but I think I will at least order the seeds and get opinions from my mom and husband after we all see and feel them for ourselves. I personally think everything will be fine, but I'm trying to convince an over protective daddy here! Thank you so much again- I'll add plenty of water as you suggested and hope to try this soon!

It seems I'm not alone in that these basil seeds aren't working! http://www.amazon.com/Tukmaria-Sacred-Basil-Seeds-7oz/dp/B00AM6IYMI/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=ur2&refRID=171G66TBABN4WM4N1XF4&tag=cracit06-20So bummed! I wonder if Amazon will take them back?!

Aaaahhh! SOOOO bummed. Yes, apparently there's a bad shipment that's gone out. I suspect that a large batch was damaged in shipping to the point that the seeds were killed. That listing has worked for a year, but all of the sudden, the seeds aren't working for anyone. Yes, absolutely return them! Amazon will take them back. The seeds are traditionally used inflated in a drink, so they absolutely are not working as they are supposed to - definitely broken and in need of returning. I am so so so so sorry for the inconvenience. :( :( :(

Is the damage possibly from cold temperature exposure? We're in North Dakota and I'm wondering if it's worthwhile to try to find them locally or best to wait until summer and buy enough for ... a whole year? :)

Hi Kristin! I was worried about that as well and sent a few sample batches of working seeds to folks that had ones that were not working. They all worked, despite the temperatures, so I think it just must be something with a batch of that one listing... I don't know when they'll run through the damaged ones and get a new working batch, so for now I'd recommend using another listing than the one that says "TUKMARIA" in yellow across the front. I hope that helps!

Aw, boo about the stained hands - so sorry! I think the vinegar would actually shrink the seeds, but I'm not positive. We use washable liquid watercolors so we don't have staining. I bet your kiddo would have just as much fun with plain seeds if the food coloring is causing trouble! Glad to hear you otherwise had fun!!!! :)

Congratulations on your soon-to-arrive little one!!!! And yes, that totally works and it's awesome - you can see the photos here if you're curious: http://www.funathomewithkids.com/2013/10/safe-glowing-edible-mini-water-beads-no.html

Yes! The chia seeds don't hold water as well and tend to lose water as you play. The basil seeds are MUCH better and easier (faster - they only take 5 minutes instead of overnight), but they are harder to get that chia seeds in many parts of the world.

Just letting you know about an extra step we did at the end of this activity. Adding a tablespoon or so of salt to the beads changed the solute concentration and caused the water to travel out of the seeds and slightly reduce their hydration levels. After this the seedy gel was more vicious and the seeds less 'puffy' and could pass through a seive that they were previously too large for.

I searched for edible/washable dyes, and a few different sources mentioned adding Coffee Mate to the mixture to make it washable. These sources were referring to stage blood (lol) but it seems it should work for your projects too, if dissolved in the water. Have you had any experience with this?

Obviously dairy allergies would be a problem with the Coffee Mate, but currently I don't have any allergies in my classroom. I work with toddlers, so edible definitely takes priority over washable, but a win-win would be amazing! Here's to dreaming, haha!

Huh! I've never heard of that one. You'd have to experiment with how it affected the basil seeds first, though, because some liquids won't allow them to inflate. I think Coffee Mate might be high enough in sugar that the seeds wouldn't take on as much water, but you'd need to try it to be sure. We didn't have any trouble with staining, thankfully, but it sounds like a trick worth trying!

Thanks so much for this fund activity! We tried to do this with my daughter the other day. However, our basil seeds didn't look even close to being as pretty as the ones in your pictures. The seeds looked fine in their separate containers because of the colorful water around. But once transferred into a large container to play (with minimal amount of water), they were plump but mostly colorless/grey. Perhaps, we didn't add enough food coloring (2-3 drops per cup). How much do you recommend per 1 Tbsp of seeds and 1 cup of water? Thanks again.